Nasser, I salute you

The enormity of his decision to resign as England's cricket captain hit Nasser Hussain like a ton of bricks at 10.15 this morning.

With the balcony doors of England's dressing room thrown wide open, he watched as Michael Vaughan, dressed in his England blazer, emerged from the pavilion's Long Room directly below and strode out across the lush green Lord's outfield to toss the coin with his South African opposite number, Graeme Smith.

Hussain will have felt sick to the core.

No one can ever have led his team with more pride, passion and commitment - there were times when he was so pumped up and so intense that he almost exploded.

But more than most, Hussain was also fiercely proud of the heritage, privilege and sense of honour that came with the job.

That is why Lord's is so special to him, and why he will be hurting so much today.

One of Hussain's greatest achievements was to turn around England's miserable sequence at Lord's.

People spoke of a hoodoo and, rather amusingly, Hussain always referred to it as a 'voodoo!' But rather than black magic being the cause of England's dismal run of results there, Hussain recognised that the opposition was always more fired up by the thrill of playing at the home of cricket than England's players were.

He simply could not comprehend this, and after just three victories at Lord's throughout the whole of the Nineties, England won four of their six Tests on the famous old ground with Hussain as their leader: testimony to his skills as a motivator as well as his sense of the importance of the grand occasion.

He and I had our moments - notably the occasion at Lord's last year when he gestured maniacally to the commentary box after scoring his first one-day century for England. However, his ability to deal with the media was second to none in my experience.

Always direct and honest, any slightly erroneous statistic - especially where his own batting was concerned - was always immediately challenged. I remember him telling me during an interview to "go away and check my facts". His eyes flashed: he meant it.

It was partly because of this understanding of the press, I believe, that Hussain took his surprising step this week. He was intelligent enough to realise that the force of the media was with Vaughan, even if it was not directly expressed.

Indeed, most of us were quick to absolve Hussain of any blame for England's woeful performance on the first day at Edgbaston when they took only one wicket while conceding nearly 400 runs, and pointed the finger of guilt firmly at the bowlers. But the very fact we all felt that we had to go to great lengths to do that was not lost on Hussain.

His loss of conviction was betrayed when he offered no stroke and fell lbw for one in the first innings when he batted and he knew this could not go on.

One or two people have suggested that he wanted to get out of international cricket altogether, but I believe this sudden resignation is an attempt to prolong his England career and avoid losing his place as well as the captaincy at the end of the summer.

So can we expect any significant changes under Vaughan? Certainly you could not find two more different characters as illustrated by their entries in Cricketers' Who's Who.

'Watching television' is listed as Hussain's relaxation. 'Enjoying a good meal with friends', is what Vaughan prefers.

It is not that Hussain does not have friends, but he is reclusive while Vaughan is gregarious. This will be evident on the field where Vaughan's easy smile will replace Hussain's constant haranguing of the bowlers.

But Vaughan is anything but a soft touch - it would not be possible for him to bat so brilliantly at the top of the order if he were - and there is no doubt whatsoever that the right man is in the job.

However, with Hussain citing the forward motion of the England team under Vaughan's leadership as one reason for his resignation, I wonder how Vaughan's appointment will affect the possibility of a recall for Graham Thorpe?

With a new captain in place, and the imminent retirement of Alec Stewart, we are witnessing the beginning of a new era in English cricket.

I suspect that Thorpe's fate now lies in the hands of his friend, Hussain, whose appetite to remain in the team merely as a foot soldier, rather than as the leader, will be tested over the coming weeks.

Brash Smith has proved he stands tall in the line of fire

At 22 years of age, South Africa's captain Graeme Smith is six years younger than Michael Vaughan, England's newly-appointed Test captain.

However, a sign of his burgeoning confidence following his outstanding Test at Edgbaston was evident when Smith gave his reaction to Nasser Hussain's resignation.

"It's very hard for England to come up with a decent replacement with back-to-back Tests, so I suppose Michael Vaughan will step in," he said. Vaughan will take note, and if he needs any further pointers about the rather abrasive character of his opposite number, I can tell him that Smith is a man who has always spoken his mind.

When Omar Henry, the South African chairman of selectors, broke the news to Smith that he was not in the World Cup squad, Smith squared up to him and told him he had just made the biggest mistake of his life. Next day he scored 150 against Pakistan.

Suitably impressed, Henry knew exactly whom he wanted as captain when Shaun Pollock was sacked. "There's no rush, go away and think about it for a few days," he said to Smith.

Smith replied: "No need. I want it right now."

Lord's looking for Twenty20 vision

The success of the Twenty20 Cup is still being assessed by the powers that be at Lord's. David Morgan, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has called for a full review of the tournament, which attracted record crowds into previously deserted county grounds, before deciding on next year's format.

Understandably, the counties are keen to expand the competition with more matches at the start, or by having the semi-finals and the final on different days. But the Board, mindful of the £1.75million windfall Twenty20 produced in three weeks this summer, does not want to kill the golden goose.

The Board has some unlikely support from BSkyB, whose audiences were encouraging because many matches were shown in the early evening. But Sky wants the current format to remain for at least another year to see if this season's success is repeated, presenting the ECB with an interesting balancing act.